1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to safety flags, and more particularly, to an expandable safety flag stored on a flotation device.
2. Description of Related Art
Water and boating activities are becoming increasingly popular. Boats and personal water craft, such as jet skis, continue to proliferate, causing crowding of many lakes and coastal waters. With the increased traffic on these waters, the dangers for people swimming in the water has increased. For example, skiers may fall in the water, either at the end of their skiing run or accidentally. The boats towing the skiers must swing the boats around in a relatively wide turn in order to retrieve the skier. During the repositioning of the towing boat, the skier is left alone in the water, presenting hazards to the skier. Other boats, unaware of the person in the water, may drive their boat over or dangerously close to the person. Additionally, the towing boat may lose sight of the person during the turn, causing difficulties in finding and retrieving the person.
The same hazards seen with fallen skiers are also encountered by other individuals, such as swimmers or passengers of a boat who fall into the water. The individuals are partially obstructed from view by the water. Since the individuals are not easily seen, they may also be run over by water craft. In addition, water craft operators whose boats are inoperative have difficulty attracting the attention of others and signaling for assistance.
Although there are no known prior art teachings of a solution to the aforementioned deficiency and shortcoming such as that disclosed herein, prior art references that discuss subject matter that bears some relation to matters discussed herein are U.S. Pat. No. 4,598,661 to Roe (Roe), U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,711 to Samano (Samano), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,786 to Stevens (Stevens).
Roe discloses a signal device for attachment to a flotation vest. The signal device includes a telescoping flat member and a support member to support the telescoping flag member in an upright manner. The support member is attached to the flotation vest. Although Roe discloses a safety flag to mark the location of the wearer of the flotation vest, Roe does not teach or suggest an expandable flag which can be removed from the flotation vest. Roe suffers from the disadvantage of fixing the flag to the vest, which does not allow the wearer to wave the flag. Since the flag remains fixed to the wearers vest, the flag cannot be used to its maximum advantage, such as by waving the flag to attract the attention of others. Additionally, a stationary flag could make a swimmer appear as a small buoy, and boaters may ignore it or still pass dangerously close.
Samano discloses a flotation vest which has a flexible mast attached to a portion of the vest. A flag is attached to the uppermost portion of the mast. The mast is fastened at one end to the vest, and when not in use, is bent over a wear's shoulder and attached to the shoulder of the wearer. When utilizing the flag, the wearer detaches one end from his shoulder, releasing the flag and allowing the flag to extend upwardly. Samano does not teach or suggest removing the flag from the flotation vest. Therefore, Samano requires that the flag stay fixed to the vest, again preventing the movement of the flag and decreasing the effectiveness of the flag.
Stevens discloses an automatic, telescoping signal device attached to a flotation vest. The device includes a telescoping spotting pole mounted to the back of the flotation vest. The spotting pole slides freely from the main housing of the device. At the top of the spotting pole is a flag. The spotting pole automatically extends from the main housing when the wearer is submerged in the water. Stevens does not teach or suggest an expandable safety flag which is removable from the flotation vest. Stevens suffers from the disadvantage of being fixed to the back of the wearer, which is restricts the movement of the flag by the wearer.
Review of each of the foregoing references reveals no disclosure or suggestion of a apparatus as that described and claimed herein. Thus, it would be a distinct advantage to have an apparatus which is easily stored within the flotation device and can be removed to signal boaters of the location of the wearer of the flotation device. It is an object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus.